Category: shop information

Find out opening hours, info about the shop and what’s for sale

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A Week in the Life

I thought I would share a week in the life of a habderdasher with you. Currently I am babysitting the builders replacing the conservatory, so I thought I’d share a typical day.  What do I  do all day long? How do small business owners stay busy? I’ve had the shop nearly 6 years now and no two days are the same.  I love what I do and hope to see you soon!

Monday

Usually Mondays start with tickling round the shop tidying up and checking stock levels.  Monday is often ideas day which then sketches out the rest of the week. Today I have lots of fabric remnants that need to go to make space for winter yarns so i thought i’d bag them up and make suprise goody bags of fabric  and pop them outside.

Tuesday

Today is delivery day!  Shop orders from  the weekend usually arrive today.  Boxes get opened and items need unpacking, pricing and squeezing onto shelves! It usually keeps me busy inbetween serving customers. Not much in this week’s order, so once done, I spent down time knitting.  I am learning how to make stripes and knit with cotton!

Wednesday

Today was very exciting as I had a visit from my stylecraft rep, Maureen.  Once a month I get to find out what’s new for the season and put in my  yarn order.  Lots of companies have a minimum order for free carriage but it racks up to hundreds of pounds. There is a juggle between making sure there’s enough in the bank to justify a huge order and not ordering for the sake of it and being overstocked. I have to guess if the new lines will sell – each area has it’s own quirks. What sells for Stylecraft doesn’t necesarily sell for me in Somerton.  Covid and Brexit have meant stock shortages for the last year so repeat orders aren’t always a given, some stuff I have waited since January for!!

Thursday

Didn’t even get to have a cuppa this morning 🙁         Not to be outdone, I went to Market Bakery and reminded myself of how utterly delicious their coffee is.

 

It was a very busy customer day in the shop today, the weather was weird though. Four seasons in one day – for August that’s rubbish!!  I set off in a T shirt and by the end of the day I was in an emergency shop jumper AND i had to borrow the emergency shop umbrella as it totally poured down at hometime.

Friday

Wednesday’s yarn delivery arrived today, so that needed oozing onto all the shelves.  A fab friend delivered a much needed Hot Chocolate from Craft House Chocolate and we managed a catch up sat outside.  I had another rep visit and a chat. As a result I have now joined the  UK Hand knitting association (UKHKA) as they are doing their best to promote independent yarn shops in the wake of the Pandemic alongside some business support.  Apparently I can have a mention in their directory and a little webpage.  Something more to do another day!

Saturday

Steph is coming today for a workshop.  We have been running them outside, but it’s totally tipping down.  Upstairs needs tidying and clearing so there’s enough room for everyone inside today.

 

And relax! that’s my week. Not really relaxing as i need to make up this week’s order for delivery on Tuesday and we go round again. 

See you soon!

Sue

 

 

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DIY Easter Wreath

  I actually made this DIY Easter wreath last year but then Easter kind of didn’t happen, certainly not from a retail perspective.  Can you believe it’s been a whole year since lockdown began??  All the lovely Easter stock is still sitting in the shop waiting for new owners. Easter this year isn’t going to happen either, but at least you can call me and collect your holiday crafting stash this year.

 

This is a super easy wreath made from a wire frame and wrapped with yarn. Once made it can be decorated with anything vaguely spring related.

  • wrap your wire frame
  • wrap with green yarn
  • tuck in the ends with a needle
  • decorate!
  • buttons add a contemporary touch
  • more ideas for decoration
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Great ideas for Mother’s Day gifts

Hello everyone!

Here are some great ideas for Mother’s Day gifts. It’s been nearly a whole year and a second Mother’s Day lockdown since this all began!  Again the sun is making the most of things, for which I am very thankful.  In case you didn’t know, Mother’s Day is Sunday 14th March this year and no the shops and restaurants won’t be open either.  This year you are going to have to choose your own gifts and send someone out to get them. Win win!  Here are some ideas for youself, or a friend, or your mum or special Auntie or grandma.

Paul Lines Glass

Check out these gorgeous glass ideas.  More in the shop if you are interested. Please ask.

  • Dichroic glass pendant
  • £13.95
  • Great gift all year round
  • Green dish
  • Rainbow Crosses £11.95
  • Balloon Wave

 Gifts for Mum

Check out these lovely ideas too.

 

  • Make or order some bunting
  • Buy a yarn bundle for her to make something for herself
  • Buy a pattern and yarn to make a hat, or make it yourself
  • Earrings £2.95 budget friendly
  • Reusable face wipes one for every day of the week! £.6.00
  • Buy a yarn pack and pattern
  • Fabric packs
  • Crochet scarf
  • Crochet scarf

These are just some ideas to help you out and to showcase what’s in the shop.  We are still on click and collect, aiming to open properly for April 12th. In the meantime, pick up the phone or message if you’d like anything here. Stay safe! Not long to go now

Sue xx

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Free knitting pattern

Stylecraft have released a free knitting pattern to help dispel those winter blues! Make this lovely chunky knit scarf for friends and family.  Are you ready for a new project? Certainly this will keep you busy  and warm at the same time!  A short project like this gives a sense of satisfaction and achievement without taking months to make.

Stylecraft have issued this lovely scarf pattern FREE!!  It uses a chunky yarn, so the Bellissima chunky or Softie or Special chunky I have in stock should all work well for this.

Don’t forget you can easily change the colours to suit the men in your life.   The pattern can be found here: https://www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/pdf/Free%20online%20Life%20Chunky%20Valentine%20Scarf_p1.pdf

 

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Saving the Planet – one craft at a time

I do my best to reuse, recycle and be as eco conscious as possible here at the shop.  I am old enough to remember recycling the first time round when pop bottles went back to the shop for a 10p refund!  I know recycling isn’t new, but since the invention of plastic the world has gone into consumer overdrive as it’s cheap and keeps everything clean in transit.

A lovely best mate of mine has been plastic free this last 20 years and there’s still plenty we can all do to help minimise the waste we see every day.  Lots of customers already bring cloth bags for their shopping and when I have them,  you may be given a special handmade Mrs McGregors cloth bag for yours. I always love the reaction when I give them away!  In addition to recycling my packing, I sell a growing range of recycled and eco friendly products.

When deliveries arrive, packing is given to the charity shop to wrap their china in.  Larger cardboard delivery boxes are given to a lady who posts a lot of furniture around the country.    This helps me move waste but more importantly, saves  having to buy new packaging, which I think is a win win all round.  Lots of shop stock comes plastic free; elastic, bindings, trim, lace, threads and things like webbing all come on reels so you don’t have to buy a pre packed amount, just have exactly what you need.

 

New from old

  • Toy filling – recycled from plastic bottles
  • Ribbon – recycled from plastic bottles
  • Sewing thread – recycled from plastic bottles
A range of products made from recycled plastics

Lots of products are now made from recycled plastic. One of my suppliers has really tried hard to get with the eco friendly products and packaging and I fully support them. I buy recycled toy filling, sewing thread and a range of ribbon called ‘New Life’ which now are packaged on cardboard reels.

I also sell pre loved crafting supplies. I have a large range of pre loved card and papercraft, plus embroidery threads and kits that haven’t been used and are just in old packaging. I have some lovely large embroidery frames and some ready made tapestries that need a good home. There’s lots of pre loved ribbons and fabrics that have just been hanging around a few years and need someone to love them. Do ask, there’s a myriad of stuff upstairs that would love to see the light of day!

Ditch that single use!

  For a long time now, we have stocked a range of reusable and eco friendly versions of make up/face wipes, sandwich wraps (great for back to school) and metal straws in a handy carry pouch, all made by Melissa.  These are great for birthday gifts to post or a treat for yourself!  They have been tried and tested by friends and family.  At the moment these are all displayed in the window, so do pop in and take a look.

At the moment, bags, clothing and anything made from recycled fabrics are on hold, but as soon as we can, the ranges of recycled/upcycled bags and clothing will be back.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

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Face coverings

For those folk making masks or face coverings, I have been following the  www.bigcommunitysew.co.uk tutorials and patterns. check out some links below and look on the tutorial page for  some ideas and help.

 

shaped face cover instructions

shaped face covering pattern

Below is my version of a rectangular face covering.  Any questions then do shout!

 

  • cut a rectangle 8 inches by 14 inches long.
  • sew the seam and move to the middle
  • at 4 and 10 inches, pin and sew your elastic ears
  • fold back up and stitch the sides . don’t forget to leave a gap for turning!
  • turn it all inside out
  • pleat and sew your folds, being careful with that much fabric under your machine
  • pull any threads through with a pin, tie and cut loose ends
  • ta da!
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Back in business

 

Small businesses officially allowed to open again! hurrah!    Many people came by to say how nice it was to see me open again which was lovely.  It’s worrying to think if your customers will return or not.  Being closed for such a long time makes for reassessment of everything.

  I have spent the time sitting in the garden reading, only finding other things to do when the weather cooled down.  A few folk have told me they haven’t managed to settle through this time to do anything or be productive.  Me neither, I have achieved nothing spectuacular, not learned a language or produced a quilt or crocheted blanket.

 

I have, however, been still, rested and mindful, enjoying the outside, feeling the wind and the sun on my face, watching the birds flit past and being in the now.  I have also spent time cooking for my family, we only ever do 3 meals a day together on holiday.  Finding enough for 4 people to eat every meal can be a challenge, particularly when small teenager declared he was going vegetarian a few weeks ago!

Be kind to yourselves whatever you are doing and whenever you choose to come out of lockdown I shall look forward to seeing you.

 

Best wishes,

Sue

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Workshops @ Mrs Macs

We have lots of workshops going on at Mrs McGregor’s.  Steph comes every Tuesday morning to run a variety of crafts classes, she can turn her hand to many different crafty pursuits.  We also have Thursday afternoon workshops on a theme, February was all about upcycling and March is all about flowers.

Take a look at the what’s on section for more details or pop to Crafting by Steph’s FB page and see what she’s up to. 

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Workshops price fix!!

Workshops for January and February 2018 are all fixed at £12 each.  A good time to have a go at all those crafts you have been desperate to learn over the years and never got round to!  Check out the What’s on calendar or pop your desired craft in the search bar to find out what’s on next .

Looking forward to seeing you soon,

Sue

 

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Confessions of a daisy hooker

Welcome to my first blog tutorial!

Instead of writing a Masters research proposal, i have spent the afternoon making and photographing daisy square crochet, which i have to say has been far more fun.  To combine with Granny square Mondays, i am producing my own patterns and leaflets to go in a crochet gift box (another story for another day beginning with ordering the wrong boxes….).

There are many daisy granny squares out on the interwebnet, not to mention the confusing USA v UK versions of stitches.  I am relatively new to crochet and can only do a few stitches, so can’t lay claim to copyright on any of this, however, this is me mashing a few of those patterns together making the most of a treble and half treble stitch!

Make a chain of 4 stitches, join with slip stitch to make a circle

Round 1: Chain 3 (this counts as your first treble stitch), then 11 more trebles into centre (12 stitches total) (Treble: Yarn over hook, down the hole, pull through, yarn over hook, through 2, yarn over hook through 2)  Finish with a slip stitch to join the round.

      

Round 2:  Change to new colour (white) chain 3 (counts as your first treble), then 2 more trebles into same space to form a cluster of 3.  Next comes the funky daisy part.

TAKE OUT your hook and insert into the top of the first treble (in this case your chain of 3 this very first time), then catch the loop at the top and pull through.  (This closes into a petal shape). Chain 2 and continue your next petal with 3 trebles, take out hook, insert into top stitch and pull through. Continue all the way round and finish with a slip stitch.  There should be 12 petals altogether.

Round 3: Change colour and chain 3 (this counts as your first treble), 2 more trebles into same chain space.  Chain 3 (this is your corner) then 3 more trebles into the same space.

Each time now you are working in sets of 3 with no chains between groups.  If you just continue with TREBLES you will have the photo underneath, can you see it’s going all curvy?

                                                                                                     

After your corner set of trebles, make a group of 3 HALF trebles in the next chain space (yarn over hook, down the hole, pull through, yarn over hook, pull through all 3 stitches). Then make another group of 3 half trebles into the next chain space.

You are now on the next corner, so 3 trebles into same chain space, chain 3, 3 trebles into same chain space.

Continue with 2 blocks of half trebles, next corner set of trebles, 2 blocks of half trebles until you join all the way round with a slip stitch.

        You can stop here with 1 round of background if you wish.  I have continued to do another round     

Round 4:

Chain 3 (this counts as a last stitch in a group of 3 – see photo on right hand side above).  Working in the next chain space, make a group of 3 trebles, chain 3, 3 trebles into same chain space (this is your first corner) then continue with 3 groups of 3 trebles into each chain space. Corner next: 3 trebles, chain 3, 3 trebles into same chain space, continue round with trebles in groups of 3 until end.  On the last group of trebles, you will only do 2 as you will catch up with the first chain of 3.

   If you only want to do trebles and not worry about taking your hook out, you will end up with the pink daisy square on the left of this pic.  Here i have just made groups of trebles with one chain between them.

So there you are!  Make as many squares as you like for a cushion, blanket, scarf and when i learn how to join them all together i will let you know and write another tutorial!!

Happy Sunday!

Sue

P.S. If you find any errors in instruction, do let me know so i can amend. Thanks 🙂